


Suddenly

by fightforyourwrite



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Dork Jean Kirstein, Duets, F/M, Piano, Show Choir, Show tunes, Singing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 06:51:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12859137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fightforyourwrite/pseuds/fightforyourwrite
Summary: Jean Kirschtein works on a show choir assignment with his duet partner.





	Suddenly

**Author's Note:**

> I really really like the idea of Jean having a lower singing voice.
> 
> I imagined him to be capable of notes in both baritone and tenor registers, but sings lower notes more comfortably. He also has a certain degree of control over his falsetto voice, which surprises people on occasion. 
> 
> Mikasa, on the other hand, I might've just imagined to have the voice of Celine Dion while she could still hit the high note in All By Myself.

Jean Kirschtein headed to the band room with his lacrosse stick in his grasp and his backpack slung over his shoulder. He slipped quietly past the various band kids and went towards one of the practice rooms.

There were several of them to pick from, but his duet partner had specifically booked the one with the piano in it. Although the piano was old and had a few broken keys on the upper end, it was mostly in tune and would be good enough for the afternoon.

Jean walked to the room near the back. Through the window in the door he saw his partner inside, currently looking over a sheet music while pressing on the piano’s keys.

He turned the knob of the door and poked his head into the room.

Immediately, Mikasa Ackerman stopped her playing and turned to Jean.

“Am I late?” he asked, stepping in and closing the door behind him.

Mikasa checked her watch, “By two minutes.”

“Oh shit, sorry,” Jean responded, his voice getting just a bit playful. “I hope you won’t deduct any points from my final grade.” Sometimes sarcasm was like a second language to him, it came to him easily like waves to the shore.

Mikasa looked confused and raised an eyebrow, “That’s not my jurisdiction.”

“I was joking, but uh…” Jean explained, though his voice started to trail off. He looked at Mikasa, who was looking back at him in anticipation for his next few words.

In moments, he lost what he was going to say and ended up simply shaking his head. “Yeah… nevermind.”

Despite the fact that he had been in show choir all term, Jean hadn’t spent a lot of time with any of the members one on one. Mikasa especially. She rarely spoke to him unless they were in the middle of practice.

The fact that it was her name that he drew out of that damn hat had Jean both excited and terrified.

Perhaps he was biased in a way even unknown to him, but Mikasa was easily the best female singer in the group. She held her notes with wondrous control and could let her voice fill any theatre she wanted.

Jean, on the other hand, was nowhere near the best male singer. He liked to give that title to Armin or even Connie, two tenors who had ranges that he could only dream of having.

Walking to the piano, Jean took his bag off and set it down on the ground. Then he leaned his lacrosse stick against the wall. Jean looked to the sheets she had on the music rack, “What’s that?”

“ _Something to Believe In_ ,” Mikasa explained. “Sasha gave it to me. It’s from Newsies. She thought we could use her sheets for our duet.”

Jean nodded and looked over the notations on the staff. There were notes that he knew he could sing, notes he could feel in his throat by merely looking at the marks on the staff. But there were other notes that made Jean doubtful.

“I can’t sing this,” Jean claimed. “I mean, you can, I’m sure of that. But I sure as hell can’t.”

“It was written for a tenor, I thought you could at least check it out,” Mikasa suggested.

“I’m a baritenor though” Jean claimed. He stood up straight, “I mean, more baritone than tenor. If you need a tenor, then leave that shit to Connie or Armin… or even Eren.”

“You can access a higher register when you belt,” Mikasa replied. She put the sheets away and reached for a songbook, which was sitting on the top of the upright. “Your range has been extending over the term. But if you don’t want a pure tenor part, we can search for something else.”

“You’ve been picking up on my progress?” Jean asked, surprised.

“I’ve been picking up on everyone’s progress,” Mikasa revealed simply.

“Still. Sorry if I shot your hopes down,” Jean said. He wanted to sit somewhere, but the only place to do so was the piano bench, which was hardly big enough for the two of them. He settled on leaning against the wall. “If I could sing as high as Armin, I could. But I clearly can’t. Not yet, at least…”

“Don’t apologize,” Mikasa said. She started flipping through what appeared to be a rather beefy songbook. “We picked names out of a hat, it’s not like we were looking for our ideal duet partners. If it were, then Sasha wouldn’t be stuck with Historia.”

“Sasha’s not stuck with Historia, she’s just stuck singing over Historia,” Jean pointed out. “Historia’s not that bad of a singer… if her partner sings loud enough.”

“She has no technique,” Mikasa said quite bluntly. She didn’t even take her eyes off the book. “I’ve heard better singing from kindergarteners and senior citizens.”

Jean blinked. He didn’t expect Mikasa to have such a harsh opinion on one of their fellow choir members. Stating harsh opinions out loud was usually his job, not anyone else’s.

After a rather awkward beat, Jean refocused back on the book.

“So uh… what do you got in there? What is that?”

“It’s a book of musical theatre duets organized by vocal type,” Mikasa explained.

“Oh, show tunes, okay,” Jean said.  

There was another awkward beat. Jean looked over the pages Mikasa was flipping through. There was a lot of stuff from shows that Jean couldn’t recognize.

“Should we really be limiting ourselves to one genre?” Jean asked.

“If there’s any idea you want to say, then say it now,” Mikasa said. She was still flipping through the pages.

“Well, I’ve got squat,” Jean admitted honestly. He crossed his arms, “I’ve been too swamped with homework and lacrosse practice to think about duet ideas. How about we just do Time of My Life and call it a day?”

“I don’t have the sheets for that,” Mikasa stated bluntly, effectively shutting down Jean’s idea. Finally, she found the song that she was looking for inside her book. She propped it up on the music rack, “But I do have the sheets for this.”

Raising an eyebrow, Jean looked at the music, “ _Suddenly, Seymour?_ ”

“ _Little Shop of Horrors_ ,” Mikasa explained, even though the name of the musical was printed under the song title in tiny font. “Do you know it?”

“I’ve seen the movie,” Jean said. “Seymour’s the guy played by Rick Moranis, right?”

“Right,” Mikasa confirmed. She started pressing on the keys of the piano, though she wasn’t playing the song yet. “How good are your sight-reading skills?”

Jean shrugged, “Better on guitar, but good enough.”

“Then try this with me,” Mikasa suggested. “I think it’s in your range.”

By the look of the musical notation, Jean supposed that he could give it a try. “Alright. As long as I’m singing Seymour’s parts and not Audrey’s.”

Mikasa looked at him with a quizzical expression, “Obviously. Why wouldn’t you be?”

“That was another joke…” Jean explained flatly. He let out a chuckle, though it did not have anything close to the tension-diffusing effect that he hoped it would.

Even though a weird kind of heat started to rush to his head, Jean managed to ignore it enough to focus on the task at hand, “So uh… are you gonna play it?”

“Of course,” Mikasa assured. She started pressing the keys, letting soft chords resonate through the practice room.

Jean started tapping his foot to the rhythm. He only vaguely remembered the song from his childhood, but he was sure that he could at least try doing the music justice. It was a good thing that the sheets were present.

With a deep breath, Jean opened his mouth and started to sing.

_“Lift up your head, wipe off your mascara. Here, take my kleenex. Wipe that lipstick away…”_

**Author's Note:**

> My writing process for this fic as listening to the movie version of Suddenly, Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors on loop for two hours.
> 
> Now it's stuck in my head. Great.


End file.
